Mina Chang, the 35-year-old deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, was accused last week of falsely claiming she was a Harvard Business School graduate, exaggerating the extent of her nonprofit’s work, and even creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it. Chang rebutted the allegations made public in a NBC story, claiming she did not overstate her academic credentials and did not commission the doctored Time cover. However, “resigning is the only acceptable moral and ethical option for me at this time,” Chang wrote in her resignation letter effective immediately.
Chang, who started her position in April, slammed the State Department for not defending her against reports she made up a role on a United Nations panel. “A character assassination based solely on innuendo was launched against me attacking my credentials and character,” she said. “My superiors at the Department refused to defend me, stand up for the truth or allow me to answer the false charges against me.”
View the November 18 article by Pilar Melendez on the Daily Beast website here.